Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1539960
OCTOBER 2025 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 47 oven does. Our units don't have 13 different zones of convection. We have a single location where the heat energy is generated, and the heat cycles are simulated. Our core technology is around emulat- ing that reflow. We will continue to work with this industry to help establish where the good thresh- olds are for printed circuit board warpage, espe- cially with surface mount. Handler: From the PCB side, it's a 25-year-old stan- dard way past due for an update. As Neil said, tech- nologically, we're working in both extremes: very thin miniaturizations as well as large, thick boards. Not enough work has been done on the PC board side of things, so, you never know how the boards will react. I agree. The more technology pushes the manu- facturing envelope, the more important standards become. How are you working with industry asso- ciations to improve the standards? Handler: This is an important technology that will increase in importance, especially with the way AI is developing bigger chips. Bigger is good, but it also creates warpage. Things need to be defined and standardized to better deal with the technology chal- lenges that new and advanced applications are pre- senting to manufacturers. We are working with the Global Electronics Association in a committee on standards. We are working with the different stake- holders to best define a baseline for manufacturers. Thank you for your service to the greater indus- try. It's so important that companies with exper- tise engage for everyone's benefit. Now let's talk about what you're seeing regarding AI and hard- ware development. Hubble: AI is driving much of the new demand. Peo- ple usually think about AI from a software perspec- tive, but anytime you hit one of those big engines, a massive CPU somewhere is driving it. When we talk about big boards and big chips, we know that AI is driving market growth. I don't think we will be using AI less in the next few years, so we need a lot of these massive servers that must work reliably and over a long period of time. Practically speaking, there is pulling on the solder joints each time a CPU heats up during use. Most of our testing is on the reflow of the initial assembly, but you can also get into the reliability cycles of temperature. Both PCB fabricators and contract manufactur- ers have an installation base for this type of metrol- ogy that is often more product-specific or problem- driven. They're having yield issues, or their OEM is aware of the challenges of thermal warpage and will stipulate certain criteria for their suppliers directly, even without industry standards. With AI in play, we expect that requiring some of this testing will become more the norm. For PCB fabricators specifically, large boards are where we see most of the new demand. You have the three main techniques that you offer in your machines, and they can be modular. Plus, Akrometrix also offers test as a service. Where does that demand come from? Handler: We have some customers that have our equipment and still use our test services. Basically, our test services come into play when a com- pany has a product and needs to do a quick analysis or check on a handful of things to make sure that their process is operating correctly and meeting all their requirements. We also do some sam- pling, even for customers that have our equipment in house. They use us as a sort of gold standard to test against. They're looking for a com- parison or a benchmark to tell them that what they think they are seeing is objectively true. Hubble: Our tools tend to last a very long time, so a lot of times we're comparing products that we run through our tool against a tool that was made 15 years ago. We have to be very mindful of that. We know we can't really compare two different tools and different levels of technology. Can you take the lead position and educate them about why they're seeing those differences? Paul Handler